1 01

The gray clouds swarm the sky. Her brown orbs sparkle at the little water droplets racing each other down the window. The song that once played on her phone cuts to her favorite song. The smooth, rich melodic tones. Her mood changes drastically with the song. The once taste of displeasure gone away completely. Her head droops sideways on the window; black coils matting to her scalp. Usually, something like that would be quickly changed, but when one wants nothing but for the day to be over with a simple something is nothing to them. The car makes a turn and that familiar feeling travels to her brain creating a thought that she is almost home. The sight makes her whole heart ache and she still has a chance to run. Click the seatbelt off and push the door open and run. Run without looking back. Don't mind the puddles or the nosy neighbors peeking out of their cars. Just run. Because in the end, there's sure to be something better than this. The slam wakes her out of her daze. She gets out of the car and slams the door behind her too. How dare she wakes her up from a lucid daze? She grabs her bag from the back seat and carries it inside the house. She drops it beside the shoe rack and drops to her knee to untie her shoes. She sets them on the rack and stands and picks up her bag to carry to her room.

"Katora, go do the dishes."

She remembers the projects she has to complete tonight. Each correlates with her four main subjects and the teachers act like she doesn't have a life outside of school. "I can't, I have a lot of projects to complete by tonight."

"I didn't ask."

"Can't you get Aubrey or Jackson to do it? I really do not have the time."

Katora hears a bang against the fabric and sees her dad getting up from the couch. His frown deepens darkening his complexion to ash. His black eyes stare right at her and the anger she felt couldn't be more predominant. He stomps towards her and grabs her by the throat catching her off guard. Her eyes bulge out of her socket and her grip hardens around his hands. Her ears shut down at the sight of her mother only staring with a blank face. It seems like nothing even matters anymore. Her siblings just stand there and she yells at them to ask why they are not helping her. Why are they standing there? She yells out for help, but they all stand there as if they can't hear her.

"Now start on those dishes!"

She proceeds into the kitchen.

She takes it upon herself to block every noise out. Her attention staying on the suds, dishes, and rag. But with no headphones or plugs, of course, there is a slur of words that make through one ear.

She finishes and hurries to the stairs avoiding everyone's gaze.

She bursts into her room and throws herself onto her bed. Tears flow down her face soaking the sheets and pillows around her. If the whole room was hardwood, the place would overflow. Air bubbles would leave her body. Her body twitching, until her body falls and her head hits the hard floor.

Rain pangs on the window and thunder shake the bed. She pulls the sea blue blanket over her body and buries her head inside. There's no point in crying, especially when being treated like crap isn't anything new. Not really anything new for most families.

Right?

Why cry if it isn't just you and billions of other people who go through it? Maybe it's the fact that she knows that she shouldn't be treated that way, but has no say or the fact she can't change the outcome or the minds of her parents. Maybe it's just the embarrassment. The humiliation in front of her mom. In front of her siblings. She gets flashbacks of her mom's face staring back at her. Wide-eyed and lips parted. Her confused expression didn't settle well with her in the least. Her siblings standing back with the same expression only made her blood boil up. She runs her fingers through her hair, but the heat only has risen more. She sits up letting the blanket fall to her torso. Tears flow down her shaking arms. The humiliation and anger couldn't mix well with each other and she stands up and walks to her bureau. She pulls open the drawer and digs underneath her pajamas. She searches frantically, the annoyance seeping through her skin. She pulls a pile of pajama pants out of the drawer and drops it onto the ground. She finds the kitchen knife and slashes her wrists. Once to only try it, but now has turned into a punishment. At least the pain takes away the anger. She puts the knife back in the drawer and shoves her pajama pants back in. She pushes the drawer back with the back of her bottom. She turns around and realizes the blood droplets on her dresser along with the bible sitting in front of the TV. She wipes it off with her sleeve, but there are already ring stains. She sucks her teeth and the annoyance seeps in again. Thunder strikes and she bursts. She throws the Bible across the room. 'Why does God never hear me?' Thunder booms in response. Her eyes get more watery the more she stares at it. "I don't wanna be here," she croaks, hugging herself even though that empty feeling never left her heart.

And Just that one sentence cracked a thought. It was all her brain needed to trigger all the memories that lead up to this. She opens the book up and rips out the pages with little care as to what pages are being ripped out. She then throws the book across the room in frustration. The thumps that remind her of her mom's footsteps on the stairs pangs her heart. She slams the switch and hops into bed pulling the covers over her body and face. The sound of thunder rocks the world around her. She shuts her eyes tears still running down like rivers. Everything leaves her mind. The work, the promise she made to herself to text her long distant friend, the new show she planned on watching while doing her work, everything is just thrown out the window. And that's fine. It's nice not having to think about anything. Even if it's just for a little while.